by Gregory Korte, @gregorykorte, USA TODAY

by Gregory Korte, @gregorykorte, USA TODAY

Correction: This story has been updated to note that Rusty Areias is from Sacramento.

WASHINGTON - The crowds were smaller, the weather warmer, the mood wearier. The focus was on the work ahead, not the history achieved.

President Obama's second inauguration lacked the historical weight of his first. Four years of bruising legislative battles had clearly taken a toll on the nation's first African-American president and the crowd that had come for the 57th iteration of the republic's most majestic ceremony.

"The first speech four years ago, he talked more about hope and was more philosophical," said Alicia Reece, a Democratic state representative from Cincinnati. "A lot of people came just for history."

Obama's first inauguration made Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream real, she said.

"Now, we've got to fight to protect the dream. That's the difference in the mood of the people here today."

In many ways the president's inaugural speech - in which he invoked gay rights, climate change and immigration - hinted at an ambitious and progressive agenda that would feed the hunger of the largely partisan crowd gathered on the National Mall to celebrate the day.

This was not 2009, to be sure. Nearly 2 million people had become roughly half that in 2013. An emotional catharsis then could be described as energized satisfaction now. Hope and change gave way to finishing the job - governing. But for those witnessing their first inauguration, nothing would diminish the moment.

"An inauguration is an inauguration," said Rachael Bardnell, 20, one of 80 students from Otterbein University in Ohio to pay $80 each for the two-day trip. "It's a big, monumental event. It's a celebration."

She said the second inauguration gives Obama a second chance. "Four years isn't enough time to change anything. You need eight years."

Monday's event, which landed on Martin Luther King Day, was purely ceremonial. Obama's second term technically began Sunday, when he took the oath privately at the White House. And as with all second inaugurations, this one marked a continuation, not a transition.

With attendees encouraged to use public transportation, crowds arrived shortly after the subway started running at 4 a.m. On an early morning Metro ride through downtown Washington to Capitol Hill, people swaying together on a jam-packed subway car quietly swapped stories about how far they had traveled and where they had found hotel rooms.

Some later-arriving spectators climbed up on portable toilets for a better view, even as long lines formed below them. Others built mounds of mulch to gain an extra inch.

Dressed more for a tailgate party than a coronation, some huddled under blankets. School groups wore matching knit caps. And the big crowd still made big noise. Boos came as members of Congress were introduced on the 657-square-foot video screens. As Obama was introduced with the ruffles and flourishes that precede Hail to the Chief, the crowd fluttered flags and cheered, "O-bam-a! O-bam-a!"

Opponents of the president largely stayed away, though one anti-abortion protester did shout from a tree throughout Obama's speech. Firefighters propped ladders against the tree and police climbed up to persuade the man to come down. He stayed up there until he was arrested 20 minutes after the ceremony.

'His moment now'

The president's supporters, though, expressed a renewed hope that Obama could pursue a more aggressive agenda this time around - especially on civil rights.

"This is the president's chance to do something. He's in his second term. He doesn't need to get re-elected. It's going to be his moment now," said Mark Meyer, a non-profit manager from the Bronx who drove down to witness his fifth inauguration. Asked what Obama should accomplish with that moment, he paused. "Immigration would be a big deal."

Li Ochs, of Dusty, Wash., said guns should be the focus. "He can just do it," she said. "He doesn't have to please anyone."

The quaint hope of Obama's first inaugural address now seems plucked from a time capsule, delivered amid economic calamity and before a divisive debate over health care, the rise of the Tea Party, showdowns over deficit spending and a contentious re-election effort that reflected a split electorate.

That January day in 2009, Obama proclaimed an "end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics." He claimed that "the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply."

Four years later, under sober gray skies, Obama read from the Declaration of Independence and said that while its truths may be self-evident, "they have never been self-executing."

Freed from politics?

As Obama spoke, Joel Limerick stood at the edge of the crowd and grunted his approval. "I liked when he said, 'Absolutism isn't principle,'" Limerick said. "I just hope it doesn't go over our heads too much."

Lawton Wilkerson, 86, a member of the Tuskegee Airmen - the first black military aviators in U.S. history - was attending his first inauguration.

"It's a very historic event on a very historic day," Wilkerson said, noting the King holiday. He said he was hopeful Obama's second term would be productive, now that he no longer faces re-election. "This time he doesn't have to ... play politics anymore."

Obama's first inauguration was a boon to the cottage industry of Washington merchandise vendors, but the second time was a harder sell.

Ishine Moore and his son came up from Alabama, hawking commemorative programs to fund the trip. Marked at $20, he was selling them for $10 outside a subway station. (Half a block away, another vendor was selling the same program for $5.)

"It's real slow, real slow," he said. "It's different this time."

Leigh Kane was among the 1.8 million revelers who attended four years ago, but she skipped the second inauguration. Her kids are older, and her relative who works on Capitol Hill didn't offer up tickets this time.

"The mood is different," said Kane, a 54-year-old college photography instructor from her home in Kutztown, Pa. "People might not be as giddy any more, but perhaps they're more determined."

She said she still supports the president and is shocked that the hope of Obama's first inauguration has given way to divisiveness and vitriol. "I feel like we're still fighting the Civil War," Kane said.

But for some, Obama's second inauguration is vindication enough.

"The election of the first African-American president was remarkable, but it may be more remarkable that we elected him again," said Rusty Areias of Sacramento. "It says we are embracing the virtues and promises of our Constitution and Bill of Rights."